Samosas: Curry on over here and have some

Honestly, I believe that behind closed doors everyone wants to pick up their food, take a bite, and be able to hold onto their own little bit of yumminess, literally, between finger and thumb.

Think about it. Even the Queen at tea time is holding her cucumber sandwich or scone in her fingers. Sure, she could order the beheading of anyone who tried to steal her plateful of goodies, but why deal with all that fuss when you can just pick up what you want to eat and hold it safe until you’re finished?

Smoky, spicy samosas fit the finger-friendly bill to a T. These two-bite wonders are filled with a mixture of onion, curry, potatoes, and peas, wrapped in a flaky pastry crust that can be made in less than 5 minutes.

They can be made in big batches ahead of time and frozen unbaked for weeks.

Can you say after-school snack? Pre-practice pick-me-up? Midnight munchie? Any time of day or night these folded pastries are going to satisfy.

Take another 1/2 cup butter and work it into the mixture, leaving butter pieces about the size of raisins, or dried cranberries.

To make really flaky pastry, take some of those leftover large pieces and squish them between your fingers.

Like this. These leaves of butter will become coated in flour in the dough. As the butter melts and steams away, the coating of flour becomes hollow, making your pastry dough flaky.

Slowly drizzle in ice water and mix the dough with your fingertips until it begins to hold together.

Pick up a clump and give it a squeeze with your hand.

If it holds together nicely, it’s ready. If it breaks into clumps add a bit more water. If it sticks all over your fingers it’s too wet, and you’ll need to add a touch more flour.

Gently give the dough ball a few kneads until it comes together. Press it out into a disc about 1/2″ thick, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Overnight is fine as well.

The dough can also be made in a food processor in the blink of an eye. Add the flour and salt and pulse about 10 times. Add the first half of the butter and pulse until you get to the granola stage.

Add the rest of the butter, pulse again, then the ice water. When the dough looks a bit like dry cottage cheese, give it the squeeze test.

Perfecto! Wrap it up and into the chiller.

If you’re baking today, preheat the oven now to 400°F.

While the dough is chilling you can make the curried potato and pea filling.

Blend and mash the potatoes together with the onions and spices. I like my filling a bit on the smooth side, but you can leave chunks of potato depending on what you prefer.

What a great golden hue this filling has – and such an exotic, enticing aroma!

Blend in 1 cup thawed frozen peas,taking care not to mash them too much. They’ll provide a nice pop when you bite into the samosas. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, and some hot sauce if you like. Sriracha hot sauce is wonderful, and is becoming a worldwide favorite. It’s the one with the green rooster on the bottle.

Now you’re ready to roll!

Roll the chilled dough on a well-floured surface to about 1/8″ thick. You can vary the size of the cutter depending on how large you want your samosas to be. For a nice two-bite appetizer, I used a 2 3/4″ round cutter.

Cut your rounds, brush one half with egg wash if desired (it makes the samosas easier to seal), and fill each with about 2 tablespoons filling.

You can make egg wash from 1 egg beaten with a tablespoon of water and a pinch of salt, or you can use liquid eggs from a carton, a favorite of our own Susan Reid.

Fold over the dough and pinch the samosa closed with your fingers. For added insurance you can use the tines of a fork to seal the edges as well. Again, brush with egg wash, if desired; it’ll give the samosas a shiny/golden crust.

FREEZING: At this point, you can freeze the filled samosas before baking. Just put the whole tray in the freezer until they are solid, then store in a labeled zip lock bag for 4 to 6 weeks. To bake, place the frozen pastries on a baking sheet and pop them into a pre-heated oven. Add a few minutes to the baking time.

Bake the samosas on parchment-lined baking sheets for about 20 minutes, or until light golden brown. You can also fry the samosas in hot oil as you would fry a turnover, but I prefer baking. Lower fat is a bonus in my book.

Hot, crisp and flaky!

I couldn’t resist this particular samosa with the one pea peaking out like a pearl.

These bite-sized beauties definitely qualify as treasure to me. Serve them as appetizers on the deck with ice cold beer, or make them a bit larger and serve with a cool rice salad for a weekend meal. Then kick back and enjoy the warm burn of curry-cumin as you hold onto a puffy piece of perfection.

MaryJane Robbins grew up in Massachusetts and moved to Vermont 20 years ago. After teaching young children for 15 years, she changed careers and joined King Arthur Flour in 2005. MaryJane began working on King Arthur Flour's baker’s hotline in 2006, and the blog team ...

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comments

if doubled in size, as for a meal, would baking time increase? if so, how much? thank you.Yes, if you make bigger samosas, you’ll need to increase the baking time accordingly. Final time will vary by just how big they are, but look for the same signs. Light golden brown all over, and a slight sizzle. ~ MaryJane

they look amazing. I am already planning when i can make them. I suppose exchanging the filling at times e.g. for a shepherds pie filling or meat pie filling would not breaking the law?! Looking forward to making these. how do you bake these after they are frozen? just thaw and bake or just bake?Hi there,
As far as I am concerned, the sky is the limit for fillings. No food police here, so use what makes you happy. For frozen samosas, just put them frozen on the pan and into the hot oven. You’ll need to add a few minutes to the bake time. Enjoy!
~ MaryJane

Wow these look yummy, can’t wait to try them…if I do freeze them before baking …do they go straight from the freezer to the oven?…Do i add some baking time? Thanks for this delicious idea!Yes, these can be frozen before baking, and then baked straight from the freezer. You’ll need a bit of extra baking time too. ~ MaryJane

These look wonderful! I bet they would be good made as mini calzones, or even pocket pies, breakfast pies with scrambled eggs, bacon and cheese, or pocket s’mores…I will have to probably triple the recipe due to a large family, are there any adjustments I should make?

Thanks Mary Jane! These look wonderful!Hi Anne,
I love the egg, bacon and cheese idea. It would be great for days when you have to travel, breakfast to go. Rather than tripling, I’d suggest making a double batch plus a single batch. That should give you plenty of dough to work with. OR do two double batches and make extras to freeze. ~ MaryJane

Yum, I love samosas. Your crust is very indulgent (with 1 cup butter) but does look fabulously flaky. Do you use a dipping sauce with yours?It is a rich crust but it works to balance out the spicy filling. For one testing batch I made a dip with Sriracha and greek yogurt and it was quite popular. ~ MaryJane

I love your flaky pastry pictures, especially the peeping pea
Thanks for the make-and-freeze directions. I use PJ’s frozen scone dough idea all the time. It is so great to have homemade convenience food. Much healthier and less expensive!

Thanks, Lee – glad you’re enjoying the fruits of your own pantry… Nice to hear from you again! PJH

Was looking forward to making these on Sunday. Due to “Irene’s” possible arrival, will have to postponed until next weekend. Love reading about the variations others have mentioned. Hope everyone stays safe and dry.

Best wishes to you, too – I hear predictions of 80mph winds tomorrow! Now THAT’S a breeze, at least around these parts… PJH

We just made these — they were great — but 2 tablespoons was way too much filling for the 3″ rounds of pastry. Do you mean 2 teaspoons? One tablespoon was about right…..I will have to check with the author on this one, but from what I remember, these are pretty packed with filling. Probably just shy of 2 T. Thank you for your valuable feedback and glad you enjoyed the recipe! ElisabethThe 2 tablespoons seemed to work out well here, but you can definitely use less to ensure that your samosas don’t burst. ~ MaryJane

As usual you guys at KAF take the mystery out of making all things good. Only caveat to the Samosas would be that the spices were too timid – might be an East Coast/West Coast kind of thing? As it is I dipped each samosa in at least 1/2 tea of Sriracha. Zhug a Yemeni paste/salsa that comes in red or green is wonderful too.Hi Deidre,
I tend to be a little on the wimpy side about heat, plus when I’m feeding a crowd I find it better to err on the mild side and let folks add extras to spike the heat. I’m glad you found a yummy way to get the burn you wanted.
~ MaryJane

@deidre: I don’t know which coast you’re on, but I’m from New Jersey and these definitely need a kick of something. Mine came out lovely, just as advertised, but unassuming… I like my food a little more assertive. Next time I’ll use hot curry and more of it.

*does a little dance* Making these tonight for a party tomorrow. Can’t wait! Though given the comments above I’ll definitely be taste testing the filling for preapproval. I test everything that doesn’t have raw eggs in it… you know for .. quality assurance and um.. excellence *hides spoon*. I’m used to some that have a thinner casing but these still look wonderful. I’m thinking though that I’ll probably make the filling with frozen peas and then just let it come to room temperature in the mix. I think they’ll mush less that way.

I made this recipe for family just last night and I have to say I was disappointed. They were much more of a curry hand pie than a samosa. The buttery pastry dough completely outdid the interior flavor, even with extra spices. My family was happy because they had never eaten a samosa before but my husband and I were confused since we enjoy a traditional dough. Tastes good but it isn’t a real samosa.Thanks for the feedback. We’d love to have you post your traditional recipe on our community site for others to share. ~ MaryJane

I didn’t have any trouble with the amount of filling because I cut a small slit in the top of each one. I LOVE that sweet potato idea and will be making that soon! These are wonderful cold in our lunches on co-op travel days for school!

I make a deep fried version of samosas, and my recipe calls for ground kalonji seeds in the dough. To me, whatever the filling, the kalonji seeds give the flavor that makes the samosas taste like samosas. Unless you have an asian market around, they can be hard to find (and you grind them yourself), but what a difference!

Question, I know you probably won’t get this to this in time, but I”m planning on using this dough to sub for crescent roll dough in a recipe. I’m making a turkey cranberry wreath and am using this dough. I have looked at many many recipes but this looked pretty easy. I would love any suggestions and tips for using this like that popular blue can of preservatives! My recipe calls for opening the can and putting the triangles fanned out in a wreath. I’ll be figuring it out. And is it possible for me to make my wreath recipe and pop it back in the fridge for a while? I usually make my supper ahead of time. I’m also wondering how long can I do that? Like could I make my wreath on saturday and pop it in the fridge and bake on sunday after church?

Hi, great to be able to bake rather than fry. I am planning on making these for a party just wondering Pproximately how many this recipe makes? Thought I would use curry leaves as well.
My sister brought puff pastry samosas over for us to try, they were were ok.
Cheers
Susan
From the Land down under

Nice post. I was checking continuously this blog and I am impressed! Very useful information specially the last part I care for such information much. I was looking for this particular info for a long time. Thank you and best of luck.

The pictures and the process look pretty impressive but that is not a Samosa. Being a Samosa lover and originating from its country, I can’t say its a Samosa. You really wouldn’t ball up an Empanada and call it so.